iPhone 16e
Ranked 26 of 60 smartphones by recommenders
People praise its battery life, reliable connections and core performance; the most common caveat is slowdown after the Liquid Glass update.
People praise its battery life, reliable connections and core performance; the most common caveat is slowdown after the Liquid Glass update.
19 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 58%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Excellent battery life
“Battery life is incredible while no issues with connections whatsoever”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e” “the battery in my iPhone 16e that has excellent battery life”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)” “I am amazed at the battery life of my iPhone 16e.”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “EU mandates replaceable batteries by 2027 (2023)” Lower price and refurbished options
“You can get a perfectly fine refurbished iPhone 16e for $400.”
Comment from 1 May 2026 in “Maladaptive Frugality” “can also get the 16e for a much lower price”
Comment from 11 Nov 2025 in “iPhone Pocket”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow after Liquid Glass update
“They used an old chip and I can tell you this phone cannot keep up with liquid glass”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Apple's Siri revamp reportedly delayed again” “I can barely use my iPhone 16E after the liquid glass update”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS Foundation” “it seems the GPU sucks, and Glass is so GPU intensive”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS Foundation” - Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Android developer verification: Early access starts”
- Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e”
- Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces iPhone 17e”
Battery anxiety and drain
“I actually now would prefer to keep my new annoyingly large 16e just to not have the battery anxiety.”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “iPhone Duo” “it was buggy, cramped, confusing, and drained my battery”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “It's hard to justify Tahoe icons” Poor value for money
“iPhones themselves are terrible value”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “Apple's new 'Switch to Safari' campaign details why you should ditch Chrome” “such a blatant money grab”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “Report: Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO 'as soon as next year'” Large size
“I actually now would prefer to keep my new annoyingly large 16e just to not have the battery anxiety.”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “iPhone Duo” “not the monstrosity that is the 16e”
Comment from 11 Nov 2025 in “iPhone Pocket”
Other smartphones people recommend
The four most recommended other smartphones, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone | 706 | 882 | 44% | 13 | 7 yrs107 owners | — |
| Fairphone | 168 | 107 | 61% | 13 | 3 yrs19 owners | — |
| Apple iPhone Pro | 144 | 155 | 48% | 12 | 4 yrs26 owners | — |
| iPhone 13 mini | 141 | 51 | 73% | 12 | 1.5 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| iPhone 16eThis page | 11 | 8 | 58% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
25 of the 28 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“iPhones themselves are terrible value”
“I actually now would prefer to keep my new annoyingly large 16e just to not have the battery anxiety.”
“Because 7 years from now, my iPhone will still have the latest OS and security updates.”
“The size of the iPhone 16e is quite reasonable.”
“at least my phone works for its core tasks, and works phenomenally well at that”
“I hate typing on my phone”
“Making these devices repairable is not just about taking it apart, it's also about getting it back together.”
“Apple has at least been using repair-friendly glue like the electrically debonding adhesive”
“You can get a perfectly fine refurbished iPhone 16e for $400.”
“I run Qwen 2.5 gguf on an iPhone 16e on production.”
“it handles realtime recording of 4k at 60fps with HEVC”
“liquid glass ruined it because the GPU sucks”
“a GPU that can’t handle liquid glass”
“Battery life is incredible while no issues with connections whatsoever”
“that was my biggest "issue" with the 16e”
“it seems the GPU sucks, and Glass is so GPU intensive”
“I can barely use my iPhone 16E after the liquid glass update”
“the battery in my iPhone 16e that has excellent battery life”
“I am amazed at the battery life of my iPhone 16e.”
“They used an old chip and I can tell you this phone cannot keep up with liquid glass”
“it was buggy, cramped, confusing, and drained my battery”
“such a blatant money grab”
“my POS iPhone 16e with Liquid@ss is offing me”
“can also get the 16e for a much lower price”
“not the monstrosity that is the 16e”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.